Crispy Sweet Potato Fries {Video}

If there’s any food I could make with my eyes closed, it’s fries – crispy sweet potato fries. Not deep-fried, but air-fried. In case you’re not familiar with an airfryer, it’s a kitchen appliance that cooks by circulating hot air around food at a high speed. The result are extra crispy sweet potato fries with practically no oil.

While you certainly can deep-fry your sweet potatoes, I’m not a big fan of plunging something into a huge vat of oil. Why? Well, while deep-frying does produce great crunch and crispiness, it’s not the healthiest cooking method out there. However, since sweet potatoes are a whooping 75% water, it can be difficult to get them crispy by just baking them in the oven. Trust me, I have tried every single possible tip and trick for making oven-baked sweet potato fries. Here’s my extensive list of all the things I had tried to make my oven-baked sweet potato fries crispy:

Soaking the sweet potatoes in water (to release some of the excess starch).

Drying the sweet potatoes after soaking (to get as much moisture out as possible).

Coating the sweet potatoes in a thin layer of corn starch (to provide something for the heat to grab on to and help crisp up the fries).

Not salting the sweet potatoes prior to baking (because salt can soften up the fries, yielding limp fries).

Baking the sweet potato fries on an oven rack as opposed to a baking sheet (to allow for even air circulation).

Spacing the fries out as much as possible (to ensure the fries bake and not steam).

Making one batch of fries in the oven at a time (to prevent too much vapor releasing from too many potatoes and again, steaming the sweet potatoes).

Turning the fries half-way through baking (to bake both sides of the fries evenly).

Even after trying all these tips and tricks I read about in cookbooks and on various food blogs, I always ended up with soggy fries. The closest I’ve come to were sweet potato fries that somewhat crisped up in the oven, but lost their crispiness as soon as they started to cool down. The frustrating part was that I knew how sweet potato fries were supposed to taste, but they just didn’t.

That being said, I was convinced that it was possible to make crispy sweet potato fries. There are so many brands of bake-able sweet potato fries in the freezer section of any grocery store. So I looked at the backs of all the bags I could find, and made about fifty batches of baked sweet potato fries with various success. (I wasn’t lying when I said I could make them with my eyes closed). And then something happened.

My husband (Tanner) bought me an airfryer. I don’t know if it was a result of me constantly complaining about not being able to make crispy sweet potato fries or him being tired of having soggy sweet potato fries as a side for dinner. Regardless, now I can finally make super crispy sweet potato fries every single time and use no more than a drop of oil.

Tips for Making Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

Sweet potatoes come in many different colors. The skin can be white, yellow, red, purple or brown, and the flesh can be white, yellow, orange or purple. The most common varieties in Europe and North America are:

Sweet potatoes with golden skin and white flesh

Sweet potatoes with copper skin and orange flesh

I like the white sweet potatoes because they look just like regular potatoes. Yes, I like to trick people into thinking that they’re eating real fries, ha! However, the orange sweet potatoes are a bit healthier, containing more antioxidants and less starch. As far as flavor goes, white sweet potatoes are less sweet than their orange counterparts.

Although you don’t technically need any oil, I still recommend adding just a tiny bit to coat the sweet potatoes. The oil helps create an extra crunchy layer and prevent the sweet potatoes from drying out while being air-fried.

Technique

Use an air-fryer. Yup, that’s my only tip. The reason airfryer is superior to any type of oven is that it uses what Philips has patented as “Rapid-Air Technology”. This means that hot air is circulating very, very quickly around whatever food you are cooking, and in doing so, it evenly cooks food. Moreover, the quickly moving hot air gives your food a fried feel and taste without you having to actually fry anything.

If you don’t own an airfryer, but still want to make sweet potato fries, try the oven. As I said, I haven’t had success with it, but perhaps you will. Also, if you have any tips for making oven-baked sweet potato fries, please, share them below. I would also love to know if any of you have had success with baking sweet potatoes fries.

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Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

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Crispy sweet potato fries made in an airfryer. Simple, healthy, fast, and packed with flavor.

Servings

Prep Time

2people

5minutes

Cook Time

12minutes

Servings

Prep Time

2people

5minutes

Cook Time

12minutes

Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:

Rate this recipe!

Print Recipe

Crispy sweet potato fries made in an airfryer. Simple, healthy, fast, and packed with flavor.

Servings

Prep Time

2people

5minutes

Cook Time

12minutes

Servings

Prep Time

2people

5minutes

Cook Time

12minutes

Ingredients

1sweet potato, peeled

1/2Tbsp.olive oil, refined**

sea salt, to taste

black pepper, to taste

Servings: people

Units:

Instructions

With a sharp knife, cut off the ends of the sweet potato and cut it into 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch sticks.

Place the sweet potatoes in a dry bowl and add the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Preheat the air frier to 380 °F (if need). Every airfryer is different so you might not need to preheat the appliance. The take half of the sweet potato sticks and place them in the airfryer basket. "Fry" for about 12 minutes, checking on the sweet potato fries towards the end of "frying". (Depending on your model, you might need to take the fries out of the airfryer sooner (or keep them in the airfryer longer).

The fries should be crispy with a little bit of browning going on on the edges. Serve immediately with some ketchup or mayo.

Recipe Notes

*The reason I'm using refined oil in this case is that it has a higher smoke point than extra virgin olive oil.